


Grandpa

by M_Mary93



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Grandpa - Freeform, Grandpa Jack, Grandpa!Jack, Hurt/Comfort, Permanent Injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-19 21:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9460295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_Mary93/pseuds/M_Mary93
Summary: Jack has retired as a field agent, due to a permanent injury leaving his right arm pretty much useless. But that doesn't bother him too much, because he gets to spend more time with his grandson.





	1. Grandpa

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so… I had this dream last night, and I just couldn’t let go of it before it was on my computer screen…
> 
> Note: This is set in the future somewhere, maybe ten years up ahead (Okay not really sure when, but 10 years could fit… Say 10-15 for good measure…)

 

 

A squeal of joy was what woke him up, quickly followed by the overly excited and repeated word ‘Grandpa’. So much for falling asleep on the couch.

Jack didn’t even get the chance to brace for impact as his four year old _grandson_ jumped on top of him.

He let out a low groan, but once his ribs stopped stinging from being prodded with pointy knees he smiled down at the kid who had lodged himself between Jack and the back of the sofa.

“Hey kiddo…” he said ruffling the kid’s hair with his good hand. And cast a glimpse of the clock on the wall, it read 5:25. “What are you doing up already?”

“I woke up!” the kid beamed. “Can we go play?”

“You know what? I think grandpa needs his beauty sleep…” Jack chuckled, “But give me an hour, and we’ll play. After we make breakfast for mom and dad…”

The kid stuck out his lower lip for a second, but then a new light lit up behind his eyes.

“Can I nap here with you?” he asked, and wiggled around to get more comfortable against Jack.

“Sure thing, kiddo…” Jack smiled and let his head fall back against the armrest. “If you lay still…”

He felt the little boy nod against his shoulder, and smiled.

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At 06:30 his phone started buzzing, and Jack almost jerked awake. He looked over at his phone, then down at Jacob.

Then he cleared his throat, “Hey, bear…”

The four-year-old woke up from his slumber, and looked up.

“You kinda have to move if I’m going to shut that alarm off…” Jack said with a nod towards his phone.

The young boy scrambled across Jack’s torso and down to the floor, waiting for Jack to do something about the annoying sound coming off the phone.

Jack sat up, and reached for his phone with his left hand. It was a long time since he had reached out with his right by mistake, but the kid still watched him with wonder in his eyes.

“Grandpa…” he started, Jack nodded. “What happened to your arm?”

Jack smiled a weak smile and looked down at his right arm.

“I broke it a few too many times…” he shrugged.

“Like I did last summer on the bike?” the kid asked eagerly, then his expression changed into a more serious and maybe a little frightened one. “Will that happen to me if I break my arm again?”

Jack shook his head.

“Takes a lot more than that…” he reassured the kid.

“How many times did you break your arm?”

Jack let out a short, nervous laugh. “Kid, I honestly don’t remember… But it was a lot of times…”

“But when did it get bad?”

Jack shrugged again, “It started hurting sometimes after I broke it in 1991, I was in the military. They fixed it up, and put some wires in it, but it started aching every now and then…”

“What’s aching?”

“That’s when it hurts, a special kind of hurting…”

“Oh…” the kid nodded, and looked at Jack’s arm again. “But why did it get this bad?”

“That’s because we flipped a car the twelfth time dad and I had a mission in Cairo. I was in the passenger back-seat, some local guy was driving. Mac was beside me…”

“Where was mommy?”

“She was home, here… With you…”

“I was born?”

“Yeah, you were only a couple of months…”

The kid nodded again.

“The car flipped, rolled a bunch of times, and when we came to a stop… I had my arm trapped under the outside of the door. The car was laying on my side…”

“Did that hurt?”

Jack swallowed, and nodded.

“What did daddy do then?”

“He wasn’t awake… He had hit his head a little… And the driver was also asleep…” Jack thought back, “But it was sand, so I managed to dig my arm out… But it hurt, a lot…”

Jack offered a second look down at his right arm where scarring covered most of his hand and lower arm.

“But then I had to get dad out of the car, because it started smoking out of the engine…”

“But your arm was owie…” Jacob looked up at him with big eyes.

“My arm was owie, but I couldn’t let dad stay in the car… Because that wasn’t safe…” Jack smirked, “I managed to get us all out before the car started burning, and we called an ambulance. Then we traveled back home.”

“But your arm was still bad?”

Jack nodded and lifted his right arm.

“The doctors tried to fix it as good as they could. They set in plates here, here and here…” Jack told as he pointed to the places along his ulna, radius and the general area of his wrist. “And they put in a lot of pins in my hand, to keep the pieces of bone in place… So that it would grow back together…”

“Did it grow?”

Jack nodded, “Yeah…”

“Why aren’t your arm good? If it did grow?”

“Because there was so much damage, it didn’t stop hurting after it was healed…” Jack shrugged, staring at his wrist. The only reason his wrist didn’t hang limply was the plate which still fused his wrist.

“Does it hurt now?” the kid’s eyes grew comically, like he was afraid that his grandpa hurt.

Jack shook his head. “No, they fixed that…”

“How did they fix that?”

Jack lowered his hand again, and pointed to a scar by his elbow.

“See this one?”

Jacob nodded.

“They opened me up there, and cut a couple of nerves. Do you know what nerves are?”

The kid shook his head.

“Well, when you want your arm to do something like this,” Jack said and did a simple motion with his left, “The brain sends some kind of morse code through something called nerves. It goes dah-dah-di-di-dah-dah, and your arm does what the brain tells it to do…”

Jacob nodded.

“And that works the other way around too… When you touch something, a hot plate for instance, your hand signals to your brain di-di-di-dah-dah-dah-di-di-dit and tells you to remove your hand, because it’s too hot.” Jack explained playing that the table was the stove. “My arm was thinking that everything hurt, all the time… So the doctors suggested amputation, and I asked if there was another way… They suggested cutting off the nerves, so that my arm couldn’t call up to my brain to tell that it still hurt…”

The kid stared long at Jack’s right hand. “How does it feel now?”

“I can’t feel it…” Jack said, pinching the back of his hand to prove the point. “Or when I think I do, it’s like that feeling you have when your legs fall asleep. But I know it’s not my hand, or lower arm… It’s from the end of the nerve they cut…”

“And that’s why you can’t move your right hand?”

“Yep, you’re just as smart as your parents…” Jack smiled, and reached out with his left hand to ruffle Jacob’s hair again. “I can move my shoulder and elbow, but not my wrist and hand… Now… What do you want for breakfast?”

“PANCAKES!”

“Okay, let’s go to the kitchen and whip up some pancakes. Then we go wake up mom and dad…”

Jacob nodded eagerly again.

 


	2. Pancakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so there was interest… Good. Good to know.
> 
> Heeeere we go!

 

 

Riley padded into their kitchen to find Jack and her son making breakfast.

Jack had Jacob sitting on his right arm, basically the only thing that arm was useful for. Her son had an arm wrapped around the back of Jack’s neck.

“Awww, aren’t the two of you the best?” she asked kissing her son’s forehead and hugging Jack’s shoulder.

Jack smiled, “Already put on some coffee, it’s ready but you’ll have to pour it yourself…”

“You should babysit more often…” Riley mused as she poured a cup of black coffee. “Nice to wake up to coffee and pancakes. Especially your pancakes…”

Jack looked over his shoulder with a puzzled expression.

“Come on… You know I loved it when you made us breakfast when I was little…” Riley winked as she tested the temperature of her coffee.

A smile crossed Jack’s face as he flipped another pancake with the spatula in his left hand.

“Jacob, I think it’s time for you to go wake up daddy…” Riley said as she held her hands out for her kid to cling on to. “We can’t have him sleeping past this wonderful breakfast grandpa is making…”

Jacob did as he was told, and sprinted towards Mac and Riley’s bedroom as soon as his feet hit the floor.

“Thanks…” Jack whispered with a slight wince.

“He’s starting to get heavy…” Riley chuckled, “How’s the arm?”

“Good, started to get a little tired in the shoulder…”

“And is that Jack Dalton language, or regular human talk?”

“It’s not so bad…”

“I’ll take that as Jack Dalton language…” Riley said as she stepped closer and started rubbing Jack’s right shoulder, making the older man flinch. “Think we’ve got some painkillers from when Mac sprained his knee back in August…”

“I don’t need them…”

“Oh, I know you can function without them…” Riley nodded as she kept rubbing at Jack’s shoulder, “I also know that your shoulder will hurt a whole lot less if you just take them… And if you’re about to keep up with that little rascal who is waking up his father then you should take the damn pills…”

Jack furrowed his brows and looked down at his shoulder. “He sure can be a handful…”

Riley nodded, “Guess he takes after Mac…”

“Or you…” Jack gently jabbed his right elbow towards her. He still used his right arm as much as the paralyzed forearm would allow him.

“Plus, mom will be pissed if she catches on to you over-using your shoulder…”

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna tell ‘er?” Jack asked nervously.

“I’m not gonna tell her if you just take the pills…”

Jack let out a steady sigh of defeat, “Okay… You win…”

“Good boy…” Riley teased as she stood on her toes and ruffled Jack’s silver hair.

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“Pancakes?” Mac grinned as Jacob practically dragged him into the kitchen.

“You bet your ass it’s pancakes!” Jack grinned back as he finished the 4th stack.

“Language!” Jacob yipped, causing the three grownups to laugh.

“That’s right, teach gramps something he should know…” Mac chuckled lifting Jacob up on his shoulders. “I don’t think it’ll stick, but it’s worth a shot…”

“So… Bear, what do you think we should do today?” Jack asked looking up at Jacob.

“Draw!”

Riley snorted as she apparently imagined Jack drawing, he was about as skilled with his left hand by now as he had ever been with his right. But drawing just wasn’t in his ballpark.

“Okay, we’ll start drawing when mom and dad leave for work…” Jack agreed as he shot Riley a look. “What else do you want to do?”

“Football! I wanna play football!” the kid beamed.

“Jake… Don’t you think I should do that with you instead? Maybe when I get home?” Mac offered, using the shortened version of his son’s name (It was very likely it would evolve into Jack in a few years, but Jake would have to do for now…)

“No, grandpa!” The kid demanded, crossing his arms over Mac’s head.

“Yeah, grandpa!” Jack agreed, practically beaming.

“Won’t that be difficult with…” Mac nodded towards Jack’s arm.

“Nah…” Jack shrugged, “Jake and I have played football lots of times, haven’t we?”

The dark blond head bobbed up and down, “Grandpa taught me to toss a ball the right way!”

“Well, you do have that advantage. Both of you are left handed…” Mac chuckled, “Or, well… You know…”

Jack nodded, looking down at his right hand. “Well, at least I can still throw a football further than you…”

“Really?” Mac’s eyebrows shot up, “Care to prove that later?”

“Oh, don’t mind if I do… You’re going to get buried, son…”

“I don’t think so, old man…” Mac chuckled.

“Grandpa’s not old…” Jacob fussed.

“Listen to your kid, Mac… He knows what’s up!” Jack smirked and playfully shoved Mac’s shoulder.

“Hey, behave boys…” Riley shot in, “And we need to start eating if we don’t want to be late for work…”

“Gotta love LA rush hour traffic…” Jack rolled his eyes and took a hold of one of the plates with pancakes. The others followed his cue, and Riley took the plate for Jacob…

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“You think they’ll be okay?” Riley asked as she fastened her buckle in the car. Her worried, dark eyes locked on Mac’s blue ones.

“Of course…” he smiled, “Jack is one of the few who is up for the task…”

“Yeah, but…”

“Ri… You have to remember that Jack is still the same guy who trekked 19 miles with a slug lodged in his thighbone… He’s still the same guy who has been shot at by a whole bunch of different terrorists and quite a few snipers… I think he can handle a four-year-old…”

“A four-year-old with your genes, Mac… Jake is a Duracell bunny on a good day…”

“Relax honey… They’ll be fine, Jake looks up to Jack…”

Riley nodded, but her expression stayed a tad worried.

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Meanwhile, inside the house, Jacob was busy finding his pencils and coloring books.

Jack was waiting on the couch, his right arm draped over the back of the couch. His shoulder was starting to ease up on him. He hated to admit it, but Riley did have a point with the painkillers. He looked over and studied the leather wrist cuff he still wore. It didn’t have much use anymore, except that it covered a few of his scars. And if he wasn’t mistaken, it made his arm look less fragile and useless. But that could be all in his head.

“Grandpa…” Jacob said as he placed the coloring and drawing stuff on the table, “Can we do story time too?”

“Sure…” Jack smiled and took hold of one of the drawing books with blank pages, “What do you want to hear about?”

The kid shrugged, grabbing the other drawing book with blank pages.

“Tell about when you were a kid?” Jacob asked, dark brown eyes connecting with Jack’s.

“Okay…” Jack nodded as he grabbed a pencil. “Let me see…”

The boy arranged himself on the couch, with his legs crossed and the table drawn close so he could reach it.

“Have I told you about when my brother and I got our first big boy bikes?”

Jacob shook his head, excited to hear more about his grandfather’s younger days.

Jack smiled and started drawing a bike, “Okay, then we’ll start with that story…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y’all so much for all the great comments/reviews! Means a lot to my writer heart!


	3. Coloring and tough guys

 

“And then?” Jacob questioned, big brown eyes locked on his grandfathers equally dark brown eyes.

“Then I wiped out…” Jack chuckled. “Freaked out my brother, because he couldn’t see me. Still got a scar on my right leg from hitting a rock on my way down.”

“Did you get hurt?”

“Not really, just a cut on my leg. Could have, and probably should have been a lot worse…” Jack chortled. “I think I deserved worse for that stunt…”

Jake looked up at him a little confused. “Why?”

“Because I was twelve, I should have known better…”

“What do you think I’ll be like when I turn twelve?” Jacob asked, putting down his color pencil, “You think I’ll be smart like daddy, or tough like you?”

Jack felt a smile tugging at his lips as he looked over at Jacob.

“I think you’ll be a little bit of both, bear…” Jack smiled, “You’ve got the genes from your mom and dad, let’s face it… There is no doubt that you’re going to be smart… And… I’ve seen you getting stitches without even flinching… So I bet you’re going to be tough as nails too…”

“But what if I’m not tough enough?” the kid asked, his lower lip sticking out.

“Buddy… Of course you’ll be tough enough! You’re already tough enough!” Jack chuckled.

“I’m not as tough as you… You’re always tough!” Jacob looked up at Jack again.

“And I’m more than 50 years older than you…” Jack said as he sat back in the couch, “Trust me, I wasn’t any tougher when I was your age… In fact… I think you win that one…”

“You sure?”

Jack nodded, “And I think you’re smarter than I was too… I bet you’ll make better choices than me, or… I hope you will…”

“Did you make bad choices?”

Jack nodded again, “A whole bunch of them. Some ended up as scars, some ended up as heartbreak.”

“What’s heartbreak?”

“Oh, I’m afraid you’ll find out soon enough…” Jack drawled, running his good hand over his face.

“When?”

“Well, if you’re anything like me, you’ll figure it out once you hit your teens…” Jack shrugged and nudged his grandson’s shoulder.

“Can we go play outside now?” Jacob asked as if that was the natural path for their conversation.

“Yeah…” Jack grinned, “Football?”

Jacob nodded vigorously.

“Okay, but we’ve got to tidy up this mess first…” Jack explained, gesturing to the coloring books and pencils laying scattered across the table.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so… Because of life, I’ve not been able to write/post as much as I did while I was on sick-leave…
> 
> Fun fact: Checked my mail just as I was about to post this, and saw that one of you just had left a review asking for more. That made me chuckle…
> 
> Okay, I know this chapter was short. But I wanted to separate this part and the next…


	4. Football and shoe laces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, figured I should be quick with the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Johanna grinned as she saw the man and the kid messing around with a football. It was obvious that the two meant the world to each other. It was also quite easy to spot that the man had some sort of disability, his right hand didn’t seem to function properly.

And the kid seemed like he didn’t know what tired was. He was running around, tossing the ball, catching it… Johanna was impressed by the grown man who was able to keep up with the kid.

She watched them play for the better part of an hour, before the grown man called time-out and headed for the bench next to her.

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“Your son looks very much like you…” she allowed herself to say a little while after the man sat down.

The man’s head tilted her way, and he revealed one of the brightest smiles Johanna had ever seen.

“He does? Doesn’t he?” the man beamed at her, “It’s weird though, because he’s my grandson… And I’m not even in the mix… He’s my lady’s daughter’s son…”

“Are you really trying to tell me you’re not biologically related to that young boy over there?” Johanna asked, raising her eyebrows.

The man nodded. “I can hardly believe it myself, he does look a lot like I did at that age…”

“Well, with looks like that he’ll grow up to be a heartbreaker…” Johanna smiled, “Oh, excuse me… I forgot to introduce myself… I’m Johanna Bryant…”

“Jack, Jack Dalton… That little football player over there is Jacob MacGyver.” Jack explained, gesturing towards the kid with his bad hand.

“Nice to meet you Jack…” Johanna smiled, sticking out her right hand to give Jack a proper handshake.

Jack looked at her hand and then down at his own, he held the useless limb with his gaze for a few seconds before he looked back up at Johanna’s face. Johanna had followed his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…” she lied, “Is it an injury?”

The man, Jack, offered a tired smile. “Yeah, had a few too many accidents, never healed properly… The doctors finally decided to cut the nerves to put me out of the misery I was in…”

Johanna nodded, like she tried to understand.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore, but I can’t feel, move or use my hand at all either…”

“But you can still keep up with your grandson?”

Jack nodded, and his smile was back. “Yeah, figure I’ll be able to keep up with him a few more years.”

“How old is he?”

“Four, turning five in July…” Jack answered, “I had Riley sign him up for flag football a few weeks ago, and I’m not sure who is more excited, me or the kid…”

“Grandpa! Grandpa! My shoe is lose!” Jacob said as he ran towards Jack and Johanna.

Johanna had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the expression that crossed Jack’s face. It looked like he was about ready to give in.

“Alright buddy…” Jack sighed, “Climb on up here, and I’ll tie it for you…”

Johanna watched carefully as Jack helped tie his grandson’s shoe with only one functioning hand. He used his left hand for all the technical moves, and used his right to press down on the loose end of the lace. It was impressive to watch as the man tied a perfect looking knot, and helped the kid down off the bench again.

“How did you learn to do that?”

“I had to…” Jack shrugged, “I didn’t want to commit to shoes with Velcro straps for the rest of my life… So I figured, how hard could it be?”

“Did you use YouTube?”

“No, I taught myself how to tie shoes by messing around on my own. I checked YouTube later to see if anyone had a better take on it than me… Saw a few methods that were easier, but I didn’t like the end result as much…” Jack answered with a certain amount of pride in his voice.

“I’m impressed…” Johanna admitted, smiling.

“Well, I better get back to entertaining the future quarterback over there!” Jack finally said pushing off the bench.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, another chapter down! Hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so there is more…
> 
> If you’re interested, I’ll post it…


End file.
